Various types of non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies exist. Most non-volatile memory devices, such as programmable read-only memory (PROM), electrically programmable read-only-memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash EEPROM's, or other electric memory devices require additional processing operations which increase costs, increases the likelihood of misprocessing, and requires a longer manufacturing time. Additionally, there are various types of one-time programmable memory arrays (OTPM) that represent embedded non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies.
In techniques of sensing in OTPM, a voltage-sensing method occurs where the word line level is ramped slowly so as to allow conduction from the un-programmed field effect transistor (FET) to a respective bit line before conduction occurs in the other bit line from the programmed FET (i.e., slew sense method). Therefore, the polarity of a voltage signal is set, and is detected by a half-latch. The half-latch is set automatically without a timing pulse as a result of the detected voltage signal.